Modern History
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Modern History’
General Gordon’s death was a sensation and a scandal in its day.
In 1884, General Charles Gordon was sent to the Sudan, then under British control, to deal with a revolt by Muhammad Ahmad, who claimed to be a figure of Islamic prophecy, the ‘Mahdi’. Gordon found himself cut off in Khartoum, and the events that followed forced Prime Minister William Gladstone to resign.
Robert Clive helped to establish a lasting bond between India and Britain, laying the foundations of modern India.
Robert Clive was a brilliant and courageous officer in the private army of the British East India Company. More than anyone else, he ensured that India’s princes and people became partners with Britain rather than Dutch or French possessions, so shaping the character of India’s democratic, legal and economic institutions to this day.
An English monk warned of a flaw in the world’s most widely-used calendar.
Until 1752, the British Isles used the Julian Calendar brought here by the Romans in the first century AD. It had its problems, as even vocal champion St Bede acknowledged; but when Rome updated it in 1582 they trampled needlessly on ancient Church rules, offending the Greeks and Russians, and the Reformation was in full swing, which meant the English were in no mood to comply either.
Only an anonymous tip-off prevented England losing her sovereignty as well as her King.
The Gunpowder Plot was an attempt to assassinate King James I and his entire government on the 5th of November, 1605. Had it succeeded, it would have ended English sovereignty and made England and Scotland junior partners to the great Catholic states of Europe.
Thomas Clarkson believed that Africans were being forced into slavery in the West Indies, but could he prove it to the British public?
In 1790, many people still sincerely believed that African slaves in the West Indies went there voluntarily. Thomas Clarkson did not; and when a friend told him of a sailor who had seen the kidnappings with his own eyes, he set out to get his testimony. Unfortunately, Clarkson did not know this man’s name, his ship, or even his home port.
Anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp had a court order preventing Thomas Lewis being shipped off to slavery, but he had to find him first.
Granville Sharp (1735-1813), a clergyman’s son from Durham, was a vigorous anti-slavery campaigner, whose perseverance saved many lives. Among them was that of Thomas Lewis, whose fate was decided at a sensational trial on 20th February, 1771.